PAN Card Validator

Validate PAN format and decode all 10 characters

UtilitiesFREEYour data never leaves your browser

100% freeNo signupRuns in your browser

Built by WOWHOW Team · 14+ yrs engineering

PAN Card Validator is a free, browser-based tool that lets you validate pan format and decode all 10 characters — with zero signup, zero installation. Your data never leaves your browser. Part of 138+ free developer and business tools at wowhow.cloud, built and maintained by a team with 14+ years of hands-on development experience.

TOOLPAN Card Validator

PAN Number

10/10 characters — auto-converts to uppercase

Character Breakdown

1-3: Office code 4: Entity type 5: Name initial 6-9: Serial number 10: Check char

Invalid PAN Format

4th character 'D' is not a valid entity type. Must be one of: P, C, H, A, T, F, B, L, J, G

All entity type codes reference

PIndividual / Person

CCompany

HHUF (Hindu Undivided Family)

AAOP (Association of Persons)

TTrust

FFirm / LLP

BBody of Individuals

LLocal Authority

JArtificial Juridical Person

GGovernment

About PAN Card Validator

PAN (Permanent Account Number) is a 10-character alphanumeric identifier issued by the Income Tax Department of India under Section 139A of the Income Tax Act. Each character encodes specific information about the taxpayer: entity category, name initials, and a department-assigned sequence. Format validation catches typographical errors in PAN entries before they cause rejections in financial, legal, or government applications.

How It Works

The validator applies a regular expression that enforces the exact structure defined by the Income Tax Department: positions 1–5 must be uppercase letters, positions 6–9 must be digits, and position 10 must be an uppercase letter. The fourth character is additionally checked against the exhaustive list of valid entity type codes (P, C, H, F, A, B, G, J, L, T).

Once the format passes, the tool decodes each character position and explains its meaning: it looks up the entity type from the fourth character, extracts the surname initial group from positions 1–3, and identifies the first-name initial from position 5.

Bulk mode processes each line as a separate PAN, runs the same validation logic on each, and produces a results table showing pass/fail status and entity type for all entries at once.

Who Is This For

A CA firm validating PAN numbers collected from 40 clients before filing their ITR submissions, catching any formatting errors before the portal rejects them.

A fintech company's onboarding team doing a quick format check on user-submitted PAN numbers before routing them to the official NSDL verification API.

A human resources manager verifying PAN numbers collected from new employees during joining formalities to ensure they are structurally correct before TDS filing.

A developer testing their PAN input validation logic by running a set of edge-case PAN strings through the tool to compare against their regex implementation.

Scope note: Format validation alone cannot detect whether a PAN is genuine, active, or belongs to a particular person — it only checks structural correctness. For compliance-grade verification, use the Income Tax Department's official NSDL portal or Aadhaar-PAN linking API.

How to Use

Enter a 10-character PAN number in the input field

See instant validation — green for valid format, red for invalid

View the character-by-character breakdown with meaning of each position

Use bulk mode to validate up to 50 PANs at once

Frequently Asked Questions

PAN is a 10-character alphanumeric code: first 5 letters, then 4 digits, then 1 letter. The 4th character indicates entity type (P=Individual, C=Company, H=HUF, F=Firm, etc.).

No. This tool validates the FORMAT only — it checks structure, character positions, and entity type. For actual verification, use the Income Tax e-filing portal.

Yes. All validation happens in your browser using regex. No data is sent to any server.

Positions 1–3: First three letters of the taxpayer's surname (for individuals) or entity name. Position 4: Entity type (P=Person/Individual, C=Company, H=HUF, F=Firm, A=AOP, B=BOI, G=Government, J=Artificial Juridical Person, L=Local Authority, T=Trust). Position 5: First letter of the taxpayer's first name or entity name. Positions 6–9: Four sequential digits assigned by the Income Tax department. Position 10: An alphabetic check character.

P=Individual (person), C=Company incorporated under Companies Act, H=Hindu Undivided Family, F=Partnership Firm, A=Association of Persons, B=Body of Individuals, G=Government entity, J=Artificial Juridical Person (e.g., deity trust), L=Local Authority (municipality, panchayat), T=Trust (charitable or private). The fourth character in a PAN always identifies which category the holder belongs to.

Format validation confirms the structural rules (correct character types in correct positions) but cannot verify whether that PAN was actually issued by the Income Tax department, whether it belongs to the person presenting it, or whether it is currently active. The Income Tax e-filing portal or NSDL PAN verification service checks the actual database.

Yes. Switch to Bulk Mode and paste up to 50 PAN numbers — one per line or comma-separated. Each is validated individually and results show which are structurally valid and which contain format errors, along with the decoded entity type for valid entries.